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Stolen Rembrandt recovered at Encino church

by Thomas Watkins | AP

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A visitor to Christie's looks at Rembrandt's 'Portrait of a man, half length, with arms akimbo' on December 4, 2009 in London. Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images

It wasn't some bold theft carried out by burglars breaking into a heavily-fortified museum with high-tech alarms to swipe a masterpiece. It was a low-tech caper involving a distraction, an accomplice or two and a small sketch — an 11- by 6-inch drawing.

What was remarkable was the signature on the artwork: Rembrandt.

Authorities said Tuesday they had recovered the Dutch master's 17th century sketch, which was snatched over the weekend from a private art display at a luxury California hotel while a curator was momentarily distracted by someone who seemed interested in buying another piece.

Investigators say a $250,000 Rembrandt print was found in an unlocked church building about 20 miles away in suburban Encino.

Rev. Michael Cooper confirmed the sketch was found at St. Nicholas' Episcopal Church, but declined to release any details.

At a news conference Tuesday morning, Los Angeles County sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore said detectives got a tip on Monday evening that the Dutch master's 17th century sketch "The Judgment" was at the church.

He said the caller recognized the 11-by-6 inch pen-and-ink drawing from news reports.

A curator confirmed the artwork's authenticity overnight.

The framed 11-by-6-inch drawing was on an easel in the lobby of the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Marina del Rey when it was stolen Saturday night.

"When the curator turned back to the Rembrandt, it was gone," Los Angeles County sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore said. It was not clear whether the person talking to the curator was connected to the theft, though Whitmore said a team of at least two people was involved.

The sketch was being displayed on an easel or wooden stand and was apparently not fastened down in any way, Whitmore said.

He described the theft as well-executed, "but not executed well enough to get away with," adding that investigators had several strong leads and that detectives were looking at video surveillance from the hotel.

The sketch, called "The Judgment," was completed around 1655 and is signed on the back by Rembrandt von Rijn. He is widely regarded as one of the finest painters in European art history and his worldwide name recognition has made his work a common target for thieves.

"Rembrandt is a name that criminals know or should know," said Chris Marinello, executive director of the London-based Art Loss Register, an international database of stolen artworks. "When they come across one, they see dollar signs."

Marinello said the theft was likely a crime of opportunity and not an operation carried at the command of a mysterious underworld mastermind with a private art collection, as is often depicted in movies.

"Hollywood would love us to believe there are paintings being ordered stolen," he said. "We have yet to find that."

Artworks tend to surface either very quickly after they are stolen or else disappear into the underworld where they are traded between criminals at a fraction of their value for drugs and other illicit materials, Marinello said.

Ritz-Carlton spokeswoman Vivian Deuschl said she could not comment because the theft was a police matter.

The drawing was part of an exhibit at the hotel sponsored by the Linearis Institute based in the San Francisco Bay area community of Hercules. Messages left Monday weren't returned.

The stolen sketch was drawn with a quill pen and depicts what appears to be a court scene with a man prostrating himself before a judge.

Marinello said the artist thieves most commonly target is Picasso because of the volume of the Spanish painter's work and his name recognition. Rembrandt is a popular target for the same reasons.

In July, a thief walked into a San Francisco gallery and snatched a Picasso sketch valued at more than $200,000. The arrest of the suspect ultimately led police to a trove of other stolen artworks in a New Jersey apartment.

In 1990, two criminals posing as police officers robbed the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum during the St. Patrick's Day parade in Boston. Marinello said the works, which included Rembrandt's only seascape, had a combined worth of as much as $500,000. Those paintings are still missing.